Pages

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

The thrill of "oops paint"

Do you know about opps paint? I think oops paint has a magnetic property because I can't keep away from it.

Oops paint is paint that has been rejected or not picked up by a customer at the hardware store. Some hardware stores, like the Home Depot in which I took the picture above, have their opps paint in a pretty prominent location. Others, like the Lowes in my town, have it tucked away so you have to do some searching for it. If you have small projects on your to-do list, you owe it to yourself to find this section. It's a treasure trove of cheap paint.

Lowes generally charges $1 to $1.50 for a sample jar of oops paint (generally called mistint paint there) and about $2.50 to $5 for larger cans. Home Depot generally charges 50 cents for sample jars and $1 to $2.50 for the small cans. Over the last few months, I've built up a little stock pile for my wedding projects.

These are just the cans I still have. Plenty have been mixed with other colors and used up completely.

If you like projects, oops paint is the paint to use. I've painted accent walls in my children's bedrooms. I'm not one who likes painted antique wood furniture, but some furniture I'll paint. I picked up a wooden kitchen cabinet for free on Craigslist and painted it multi colors using oops paint. In the center of each door panel I painted George Rodrigue's "Blue Dog". The cabinet was used for several years in a bedroom for toys. Eventually, I gave it away on Craigslist. The family was going to use it in their daughter's bedroom. Oops paint = fun!

Small & Chic started as a way to document the process of upgrading a new construction, 785 square foot condo in downtown Charlottesville. After a wedding and a move, the projects are now focused on updating a 1970s home in the woods. I'm so glad you decided to follow along!